The Good Ship Albion’s Neighborhood

Taking a break from the usual live reviews of late, I will be doing some much-ignored reviews this week. Today's theme is all from the same record label.

Suburban Noize Records have been around since the mid-90s, catering to a very certain market of young hip hop, herb culture, and punk fans. We have a few items from them for review.

For starter, SubNoize Souljaz (myspace) is like the all-star supergroup, consisting of 15 or so Suburban Noize artists, including members of Kottonmouth King, Big B, and Jared Gomes (singer of Hed PE).

Their third album, Blast From The Past, just dropped late last August. While I am unfamiliar with some of these titles, I almost knew all the cover songs from hearing them on the radio. Except this album are all done in the style of that only Subnoize can deliver. With the variety of rappers and lead singers - the music is somewhat uneven, but at least the vocals stands out from each other. Particularly, I was impressed with Judge D's cover of LL's "Mama Said Knock You Out" and a funky The Dirtball's cover of RATM's "Microphone Fiend" (the bass is really good on this song) and Slick Rick's "Children's Story" by Daddy X.

It's evident that these guys owe a lot to influential bands that came before them (NWA, 2Pac, Snoop, Dre), so this album is a tribute to them. If you like old-school rap, particularly Death Row Records, as much as anyone that grew up in the 90s, you will definitely do yourself a favor and check out Blast From The Past.

Tour Dates 11/15/09 El Corazon Seattle, WA 11/16/09 Satyricon Portland, OR 11/17/09 DNA Lounge SF, CA 11/18/09 Boardwalk Orangevale, CA 11/20/09 Starline Fresno, CA 11/21/09 Modesto Virtual Modesto, CA 11/22/09 Chain Reaction Anahiem, CA 11/23/09 Karma Victorville, CA 11/24/09 Roxy Los Angeles, CA

Brokencyde, or seemingly nonsense caplock problem, brokeNCYDE (myspace), is also under Subnoize's screamo/punk label, BreakSilence Recordings. This sub-label also houses Eyes Set To Kill and Kill Paradise.

Anyway, Brokencyde is a "crunk"-core band (apparently this genre is a fusion of hip hop and electro, and possibly other genres like punk and rock). The band embrace the brand, and even have a song called "Get Crunk!".

The album actually did chart on the Billboard 200 at #86, which kind of impressed me, considering that many of the artists I hear about, they never chart. I think the high debut might possibly be due to their presence on this year's US Warped Tour. However, despite the success, the album was critically condemned. My favorite is (name redacted) review from NME: "even if I caught Prince Harry and Gary Glitter adorned in Nazi regalia defecating through my grandmother’s letterbox I would still consider making them listen to this album too severe a punishment." Critics who hates them, I don't think they understand that the album was meant for them... certainly the album is not meant for me. I am curious what the band will sound like when they've matured a bit. Although, I will have to confess that I did smile a bit when I heard "pee pee" sung on "Sex Toys" and "let's get retarded" on "Rockstar".

They look and sound very young (hey, FYI, their singer is called Se7en), which makes their debut album I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It even more-so ironic. I did feel that despite their youngness, that some ALL of their songs with messages of drinking and sex, might not appeal to everyone. Then again, perhaps that's why "the kids like it". The real irony is that with all the cursing, you may have to be over 18 to purchase it.

Stronger songs on the album are: "Freaxxx" (with the catchy "let's get freaky" lyrics), and "Yellow Bus" (boasting about sex with groupies like Miley Cyrus??? WTF!).

If you don't mind the naughty messages, some autotune, some screamo, some electronica, check out I'm Not a Fan... But the Kids Like It at amazon.

Tour Dates 11/13/09 Budweiser Event Center* CO 11/14/09 Mid America Center*, IA 11/15/09 Uptown Theater* Kansas City, MO 11/17/09 Val Air Ballroom Des Moines, IA 11/18/09 Aragon Ballroom* Chicago, IL 11/19/09 The Fillmore* Detroit, MI 11/26/09 Grove of Anaheim, CA * with 311

Kottonmouth King (official / myspace) should need no introduction for any fans of Hightimes. The group found success in that "green" niche market, and is the flagship band on Suburban Noize label - possibly due to the record company being started by member Daddy X, and their manager, Kevin Zinger.

Their latest release is Hidden Stash 420, an epic 2-disc album. This is basically a collection of unreleased tracks, b-sides, remixes, demos. The packaging is also nice, it's a fold-out digipak. Hardcore fans will want to purchase the album directly from Subnoize Store or Best Buy stores, as that comes with a bonus DVD called The Lost Adventures of the Kottonmouth Kings.

While it's easy to just dismiss the band as pot smokers, that all their songs about weed, and although it's true, I believe they also deceptively paint a vivid picture of what their lifestyle is like. Check out tracks like "Take a Ride", as it describes California and family, all under a catchy chorus of "west coast is the place for me, never know what you'll see". But it's not all serious, there's a goofy song called "Late Night Call" with cultural reference of "me so horny", "facebook" and "myspace".

The collection is mostly older songs, and it's interesting to see some of their experiments. One song, "Tangerine Sky", seems like it's paying tribute to the Beatles LSD song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". "Tangerine Sky" comes off as being more melodic and slower than most of their songs. The other non-conventional KMK is a poppy song "Let the Music Play". I wish I knew the story behind this song, but what I can tell you that it sounds very happy and 60s love. Perhaps Jackson Five?

Anyway, my favorites are usually the faster-constantly rapping songs with a loopy DJ backback, like "Evolution" and "Got It Get It". The later is a new Kingspade (a division of Kottonmouth King's rap duo, Johnny Richter and D-Loc) venture, which may be important for fans, as they haven't released anything under Kingspade in the last two years.

The Lost Adventures of the Kottonmouth Kings

The DVD portion is a Best Buy exclusive. The two hour DVD featuring the band on tour, music videos and various miscellaneous. The audio and video quality can sometime be quite poor (night-time shooting is always an issue) to quite good (see image capture of a great quality), and I think sometime the director overuses the fisheye lens. Still, can't complain too much since it's added value.

Hidden Stash 420 is out now. A perfect Christmas gift for any stoner in your family.

PB&J and El Perro del Mar ♥ photograph by Michelle

At Webster Hall, the perils of sitting in the VIP balcony often outweigh the perks. True, it’s the ideal place for a certified midget like me, and there’s a private bar and quasi-comfortable seating – but one must also put up with being asphyxiated by the many fog machines, the not-so-subtle orgies taking place on the couches, and that one skeezy guy who keeps trying to offer you a flask full of absinthe. (“It’s the nectar of Satan!”)

But last night the VIP balcony was the place to be since it was the location of a historic fist bump between me and Andrew W.K.

I already knew he was set to make a cameo during PB&J’s set, along with a slew of others, but I did not expect our paths to cross. I don’t know what compelled me to lamely offer him my fist the moment I saw him, but all that matters is that he returned it and all was right in the world. Then he left, and I immediately texted my 13 year-old brother, who soon lapsed into an envy-induced coma.

Anyway: PB&J. I have to admit, I was really there for opener, El Perro del Mar. I’ve become obsessed with her latest LP, Love is Not Pop, as it is the perfect soundtrack for long nights of procrastination. Although the crowd didn’t seem too familiar with her work, she won them over with her peculiar brand of melancholy dream pop. She stuck to songs mostly from her new album, including her mind-numbingly lovely version of Lou Reed’s “Heavenly Arms.” The absinthe guy next to us dismissed her as “vagina music,” but I was too distracted by my estrogen-fueled state of euphoria to care.

Swede-fest ’09 continued with PB&J, who announced that this was their 10^th anniversary tour. It was easy to distinguish who was who, as Peter was the one in the pink shirt, Bjorn was the one not in the pink shirt, and John was the drummer. It only got slightly confusing during the smorgasbord of cameos that took place throughout their set. Some made perfect sense (El Perro del Mar on “Young Folks,”), some not so much (an L.A. rap duo who remixed an unrecognizable song off of Living Thing). The final cameo was Spank Rock, who seemed like a solid addition to “Nothing to Worry About” but his appearance was much too brief and almost abrupt.

Obviously the most dramatic cameo of the night was Andrew W.K.’s “interpretive” dancing during “It Don’t Move Me.” He didn’t utter a single word the whole time, yet he left the audience virtually speechless. It was spastic and random but ultimately the best moment of the night.

As for the band themselves, they were in top form as usual. Since the last time I saw them in March, people have warmed up considerably towards their newer material and seemed to enjoy it equally as much as anything off Writer’s Block. The band eschewed slower stand-bys for faster, upbeat songs from their first two albums, and they ended the night with the infectious “Objects of My Affection.” I was kind of hoping they’d play the slow burning track, “Up Against the Wall,” but my friend told me not to be greedy. After all, one paradigm-shifting fist bump was good enough for one night.

J. Tillman @ The Music Box Theatre, Minneapolis, MN 11.6.09
+ abridged album review

J Tillman ♥ Music Box

Despite his minor fame with unpopular, critically-ignored Fleet Foxes, Josh Tillman has been active in the music scene since 2004.  This past September he released Year in the Kingdom, a 9-track odyssey through stoic mountain towns by way of moderate folk sensitivity.  Merely 28, Tillman evokes an image of timeless worldly servitude that befits his preferred musical genre but also confuses.  He acts the part in person—bearded, casually nondescript, a man of few words; yet once he hits that first note, it’s obvious there’s something judicious beneath the weathered layers.  For one, the quality of his voice is beautiful.  There is simply no masculine way to describe it.  The probability that Tillman drinks and indulges like a big boy is high, but you wouldn’t know by listening to him sing.  Perhaps the impressive facial shrub is actually a clever disguise, masking a sweet, even-tempered fellow who rescues kitties and bakes things for charity.  Doubtful, but my point being Tillman’s ambiguity—it’s equally believable that he wandered into town from the wide blue yonder as it is that he stumbled on stage from the local, artist-packed watering hole.

Year in the Kingdom remembers a simpler era that Tillman was not alive to experience.  Softer tracks cite 60s folk influences like Joni Mitchell, had Mitchell penned her songs in a humble log cabin, without basic comforts save for canned beans and a faithful canine companion.  The sparse “Age of Man” is a few twangs/few stringed instruments short of Americana territory, while “Though I Have Wronged You” reminds us that Tillman isn’t seriously concerned by FF comparisons.  At times matter-of-factly somber (“There is No Good in Me”), the album lulls its listeners into a false feeling of peace (albeit reflective, disquieting peace) that does not prepare the ears for the sheer force of Tillman’s live rocking.

Kingdom-the-album clashed awesomely with Friday night’s show at the Music Box Theatre in Minneapolis.  I now have a physical point of reference for the expression “it blew my mind,” as I’m pretty sure I lost a piece of my skull when Tillman blew my mind.  Similar to the structure of the studio tracks—gentle start, build-up, full instrumental progression—the show began as one would expect had they listened to Kingdom:  Tillman + band = traditional 3-dimensional engagement.  Then, maybe a third of the way into the set, all hell broke loose.  Cue roar of full instrumental capacity, skin-tingling whine of amped slide guitar, psychedelic transformation, and crazy apeshit thrashing.  On top of everything unholy, we, the audience, bore witness to grown men playing plastic recorders and finger cymbals. Surely I wasn’t the only one to lose some head mass by the end of the night.

Cerebral hemorrhage notwithstanding, strong tracks like “Though I Have Wronged You” sounded ridiculously swollen with intensity and deliberate flair.  Not showy, per se; rather, phrenic but perverted by foggy invention.  It was like walking into the Louvre for the first time—extraordinary but strangely unfocused, as if the senses were forced into overdrive.  Had I lapped a taste of Tillman’s sweat*, the experience would’ve been complete.  Unfortunately, there was no exchange of bodily fluids; there wasn’t even an encore (a mumbled “thanks” and the musicians made their hasty exit).  It didn’t matter.  How do you follow an act like yourself?

J Tillman ♥ Music Box, Minneapolis (11/06/09)

A few random thoughts without homes:  in high school, Tillman visited Crown, a conservative Christian college in St. Bonifacius, MN; Miracle Whip is the default condiment of Fargo, ND, this according to the band; Josh’s younger brother, Zach, opened the show and also played bass for the elder Tillman’s set.

J. Tillman is currently on tour in support of Year in the Kingdom.  Upcoming shows include stops in Chicago and New York.  For more information or to listen to select tracks, visit his Myspace at http://www.myspace.com/jtillman. 

* I’m not a creeper, promise.